Quote:
Originally Posted by SigmaX 
Pet peeve: I don't like the word "proof." We prove things like Area = pi*r^2, a^2 + b^2 = c^2, and e^(i*pi) = 1, etc. We don't prove that "she said this", "what the president really means is that", or "the meaning of life is this." On overarching matters of truth, philosophy, and -- yes -- of science (Hate to steal anyone's endgame word), there is not proof, there is only evidence.
SigmaX
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I am a mathematician, so I know what a proof is. Anything which actually relates to the real world cannot be proven. Which is actually my point. Religious folk say that God must exist because you can't prove He doesn't. That's stupid. Atheists make the same stupid claim when they say God doesn't exist because you can't prove He does. Look, we can't prove anything either way, so quit trying to find irrefutable proof. A skilled arguer can generally shoot holes all through every single statement about the world we can come up with, even those he/she personally believes. If there was any kind of strong evidence for any one stance, we wouldn't keep having these discussions over and over.